Originally Posted by ScottC
I think it's useless.
It's 2 year old technology hoping to sell because it says "Apple" on it.
No display, and nothing else that makes it stand out from all the others.
Apple could have as least added something to make it more advanced, like Bluetooth.
Very dissapointing.
Steve explains Apple's logic behind the design decisions in the keynote presentation. (It should be available on the Web soon if not already.)
It's appropriate for the market it's after: cheap MP3 players. Apple has around 70% of the total MP3 player market. Flash-based players make up nearly all of the remaining market (around 30%). Other high-end players make up a remaining 6% share, down from 7% last year. Apple's going after the flash-based market now: the largest non-iPod market remaining.
point-by-point:
1 GB flash memory is not 2 year-old mainstream technology. Especially not for $149 built into a device.
Displays on devices that are the size of a pack of gum are useless. Anyone over 40 won't even be able to read them. People set their players to play random (shuffle) a majority of the time anyway. If a display offers no significant benefit and makes navigation frustrating, there's really no point. Plus, the display would consume power, require more involved hardware, not to mention the soft and hard user interface that would need to be designed. This thing is meant for people walking to work, working out or doing other activities to get away from scrolling and button-pushing. In general, people want to push buttons and look at screens as little as possible. That's why there's no display.
Why should the player have Bluetooth? It's too slow to transfer data quickly. The only real use would be for Bluetooth headphones, but I know of none that exist yet. The additional mfg cost would be at least $10 per unit, and it'd be technology that very few would take advantage of at all. 99% of the market for this thing would rather save the $10-$20 Bluetooth would add to the price. Additionally, Bluetooth consumes the battery, so there'd have to be a way to turn it off, adding another button or switch or preference, needlessly complicating things for users who won't use the feature anyway.
Some other details mentioned in The Steve Show:
- less than 1 ounce in weight (less than 4 US quarters)
- 12 hour battery life with a built-in AAA battery extender option
- Available in 512 or 1G capacities (approx 120 or 240 songs)
- Can also be used as a thumb drive. Data vs song capacity can be set in iTunes Preferences
- iTunes has the ability to automatically load a random or semi-random (based on general criteria) selection of a music library onto the iPod Shuffle. If the data-to-song capacity ratio is adjusted, iTunes will automatically adjust the loaded set.
- The avg price of a 512 MB player from other companies is $149. The general range is $99-$199, so the iPod Shuffle is on the low end of this range.
- Most other flash MP3 players use AAA batteries, which are not rechargable, adding significant expense if the player is used regularly.
- Users can set the iPod shuffle to random or first-to-last using a switch on the back.